Till the last petal falls
by BookPrincess28
Summary: Ryoma had a reason to play tennis. It was for her and only her. But, her health is detoriating, and the petals in her rose was falling. "Please, Alluka, stay with me." he whispered. "You're the only family I have left." Alluka bit her lip, looking at her racquet her twin broke. She closed her eyes, tears dropping in the hospital bedsheet, and nodded. "Always."
1. Alluka Echizen

**BP: Sorry I never updated for a long time, I was so busy with my examinations! Don't worry, I did well, especially for English. I wanted to rewrite Till the last petal falls, and change the plot completely. So, I hope you enjoy the new plot! **

"Ryoma-kun!" Sakuno ran towards Ryoma with her untied ribbon. "Are you ok?"

Ryoma stood there, trying to staunch the flow of the blood. He took off his cap, and used his free hand to dust the cap, and put it back on his head. "Ah, the racquet's broken." He murmured. He liked that racquet too. It belonged to her, after all.

"Now's not the time to worry about your racquet!" Sakuno cried.

Ryoma ignored her. 'Sorry, Alluka.' Ryoma thought.

"Hey, players are not allowed on the court!" the referee exclaimed.

"Me?" Sakuno pointed to herself. Then, she grabbed on to Ryoma's wrist. "Come on, Ryoma-kun, we're not allowed here! Let's go to the hospital!"

"Hey, don't…"

"Ryoma-kun is no longer a player, but an injured person."

There was a surge of anger. "And who do you think you are, putting your filthy hands on me?" he hissed. Sakuno widened her eyes. "I don't need people like you to take care of me!" He wrenched his hands from her, and stalked towards the regulars, who stood there open mouthed. "I want to continue playing." He said shortly.

"You can't. That injury is too deep." Oishi stated. "It's probably very painful."

"Is it painful, Ryoma?" Ryuzaki asked.

"No, it isn't." Ryoma replied. The coach sighed, knowing he's lying. She took the medical kit, and somehow managed to stop the bleeding. "It'll last for 15 minutes at the most."

Ryoma nodded. He needs to win for her. That's all he needed. Although Oishi tried to stop him, Tezuka took the racquet, and gave him ten minutes to win the match.

He did.

However, after the match, he refused the offer to go to Kawamura's Sushi for celebration. He needs to go home to her. "I need to go home I have something important I have to do immediately." Ryoma said even though he knew it wasn't entirely the truth. Besides, it's not like they could actually ask anyone because he didn't say what he had to do. His senpais didn't say anything so he's guessing he bought it. "I've got to go. See you tomorrow." Ryoma said. "Don't follow me...or else" he continued in a 'that is final' voice. Without giving any of his senpais a chance to respond, he ran off in the opposite direction towards his house.

"Wonder what's wrong with him." Momoshiro mused. "He must be hiding something if he doesn't want us to follow him."

"Who knows?" Kikumaru replied. "Hey, want to follow him?" The others nodded in agreement, and they set of the same path Ryoma went only a few minutes before, wondering what they will find out.

"Alluka, I'm home!" Ryoma announced, closing the door behind him. He found her playing pirate, with a white patch over her left eye. She smiled when she saw him. She looked exactly like him, with the same short emerald black hair and hazel eyes. She is his twin sister, who stepped away from the tennis world a few years ago due to a certain medical condition. She hasn't been emotionally the same since. She's pretty much mute, she never really said a word unless when absolutely necessary. Alluka managed a smile, and widened her eyes. She trotted over to Ryoma, and touched his patch. Ryoma smiled at this gesture. "I'm fine Alluka."

Alluka nodded. Her eyes lingered on the tennis bag. Something like anger flashed to her eyes, before it was gone. "I won the match." Ryoma said softly. He earned another nod from Alluka. Alluka gave him a pointed looks, as if to ask if there is any celebration.

"There was, but I didn't go because…."

She raised her eyebrows. Because?

"Because I wanted to be with you…"

Alluka's eyes inexplicably filled with tears. He abandoned a celebration for her?

"Ryoma, you…" she started. That was the first words she had spoken in a week.

"I'm not sorry, Alluka. As long as I see you are happy and well, I am contented enough. I do not need any celebration to make me feel proud of my victory. Besides, that girl, who is my coach's granddaughter, is way too shy and annoying, if you ask me. I don't need her congratulations." Alluka's eyes lit up in curiosity, as if to ask him to tell her more about this girl.

Ryoma smiled in understanding. "Alright, I'll tell you." Ryoma sat down next to her, clearing her pirate toys away, and started regaling her with tales.

That's all he needed. For his sister to be happy.

Later….

The other regulars headed down to the path Ryoma took but he was nowhere to be seen. Momoshiro let out an expletive not caring that the others could hear him. He turned to the rest of the pack. "Come on! He couldn't have gotten far!"

"Who left you in charge?" Kaidoh muttered.

"Echizen's my best friend. Back in one of the tennis practices he said that if he's acting weird I will have the right to find out." Kaidoh didn't say anything so he's guessing he bought it. The others were frowning at Momoshiro skeptically. "Now come on, we have something about Echizen to find out."

They were actually talking under a tree a certain person was resting in. 'Hmm? Did they just say Echizen?' Alluka sleepily looked down, and saw a few senior boys wearing a T-shirt similar to her twin brother's with her one eye (She forgot to take off the white toy patch earlier). 'Oh no! I told Ryoma I'd be out to get some fresh air, and now I feel asleep!" She sat up, and rustled some of the leaves near her. Kikumaru saw a ruffle in the trees and immediately took out his racquet, and served a ball towards the direction of the noise. They were all unfortunately surprised to find Echizen dropping out of the tree and hitting the ground running. "Echizen!" Momoshiro cried.

'Oh no, the girl thought, starting to increase her speed. She could feel her heart pound against her ribcage with every step.

They weren't sure what their goal was but they found themselves running after him. They were just barely keeping 'Ryoma' in sight as 'he' did everything 'he' could to try and lose them. Why was Echizen running away from them?

"Gotcha!" Momoshiro cried, grabbing Alluka's wrist. Alluka turned to Momoshiro, and the regulars, who caught up.

"Now, why were you running away from us, Echizen?" said Fuji.

Alluka scanned every single face with bewilderment, and to their horror, she said,

"Who are you?"

**BP: Whew! Finally done! I didn't like my last plot, so I decided to change it! I hope you like it! I know it is bad, because I had like 10 minutes to do this!**


	2. Silence is Gold

**BP: Hey, everyone! I am back, and of course, I will be updating a few stories today! I guess everyone liked this version better; I will do my best to update them, ok? Do review after reading this chapter!**

"Wait…..did he just ask who we are?" Oishi said, panicking. The other regulars nodded in confirmation, Alluka stood there, wondering what would happen next.

"Oh no!" Oishi shouted, going into 'mother-hen' mode. He felt Alluka's forehead. "Did he hit his head somewhere when he left us? I told you we shouldn't have left him alone! Did he have amnesia? Echizen, are you feeling ok? Do you need any aspirin? I can get Tezuka to give you some! Tezuka, give him some, he needs them! Oh, I am going to send him to the hospital to see the doctor!" Alluka sweat dropped. She could tell that staying in the area where the regulars are present is not safe at the moment. She kicked Momoshiro, who yelped and dropped her, and started running again before the regulars had time to react.

Once she reached home, she clutched to her heart, coughing out blood. She felt faint from running so fast, and started to collapse on the ground. But before she fell to the ground completely, Ryoma caught her. His face had a disapproving expression on it. "What happened, Al-chan?" he asked, seeing her face was in terror. She gestured to his regular's jacket, which was draped on a chair nearby. "Was it Momo-senpai and the others? Did they see you and thought it was me?" He earned a nod from Alluka. "I see. That explained what took you so long."

Alluka shook her head. "I fell asleep. Tried to run but they caught me. Took me quite some time to escape" She mumbled. Ryoma nodded. Finally, she was saying three sentences in one go. "Do you want to take a bath before we retire for the night?" Ryoma offered. Alluka nodded, and grabbed her nightgown. After her bath, she helped Ryoma with his homework. Being a sickly, frail person, she spent most of her time at home, but being a genius, she's still smarter than Ryoma. They then went to bed, and fell asleep.

The next day, Alluka tried to shake Ryoma awake, but realized how unnaturally warm he was. He was having a fever! Alluka started to panic, not knowing what to do. Usually it was her who gets sick, not the other way around. She looked around, looking for answers, and spotted Ryoma's uniform at the corner. Her eyes lit up. That's it! She will pose as Ryoma and go to school for him! She dressed in his uniform, ate the breakfast she prepared for him, grabbed the bento lunch, wore her toy patch (he had one eye injured, remember), and hurried on to school. She got there five minutes before the bell rang, and sat down at his desk.

"R-Ryoma-kun?" She looked up to find a girl in braids. She inwardly smirked. It was obvious she had a crush on her brother, but he was not interested in her. Unless she was mistaken, her name was Ryuzaki Sakuno.

"I appreciate it if you don't call me Ryoma-kun. You see, it's very irritating, as we are not even close friends, and you are calling me as if you know me well." Alluka said coldly.

"E-eh?" Sakuno said, puzzled and hurt.

"And stop stuttering. It's really annoying." Just then, the bell rang. "Go back to your seat, girl." Alluka advised. Sakuno ran out crying. 'Wow, she is emotionally weak' Alluka thought. 'How Ryoma handled her is a mystery to me.' The first period is Mathematics, and the teacher announced she was going to give out a test she had told them about beforehand, after asking where Sakuno was. (Everyone didn't know, and Alluka didn't bother to answer the teacher) She gave out the papers, and Alluka accepted hers without question. The teacher didn't bother to separate their tables, as she believed in the value of integrity. Alluka sighed, and looked at the questions. She smiled, and began to write. She noticed her seatmate trying to look at her answers, and placed her right arm over her answers. 5 minutes before the bell rang, the teacher announced that the time is up, and please hand their papers in.

The bell rang again, and it was English. Alluka, unlike Ryoma, tried to pay attention to the class, but started to doodle after 15 minutes. The bell rang the third time, and finally, it was lunch.

Meanwhile, Tezuka was walking as fast as possible to the rooftop. He was hoping to escape his fangirls, when he bumped into something hard. He fell to the ground. He stared down at the person who caused his fall. He was unfortunately surprised to find that is was only Echizen, and he saw Echizen's fearful expression before getting up and starting to run in the opposite direction. He wasn't sure what his goal was but he found himself running after 'him'. He could feel his heart pound with every step just barely keeping 'him' in sight as he did everything he could to try and lose him.

He made it to the stairway leading to the rooftop before he had to stop the catch his breath. "I don't want to hurt you!" He called after Alluka. "I promise." He doesn't know why he is saying this but he saw Echizen stop. He seemed to hesitate but slowly walked back towards him keeping his eyes locked on him skeptically. "Do you want to have lunch with me?" he said in a voice that did not sound like his at all. He turned and went to leave. "Please! None of my friends are having the same lunch period." He just stood there for what felt like forever before turning back to him with a nod. There's something peculiar about Echizen today, he's pretty much mute, even during English class (he passed by earlier), he never said a word. Echizen motioned for Tezuka to follow him.

"Is your eye alright, Echizen?" Tezuka said.

Alluka nodded. Just then, her phone rang. She got up, and went to a corner.

"Hello?" she whispered.

"Alluka, what are you thinking?" It was Ryoma. "Dressing up in my uniform and going to my school?" It was clear he was angry.

"It's ok, Ryoma, no one has caught me so far. Besides, you are the capable one in taking care of sick people, not me. I want to have a taste of school life for a change. It's so boring being cooped up at home." Phone conversations are one of the only times that she says more than 5 sentences. Other than that, she just uses gestures to communicate, or the occasional words and short sentences. Gestures appeared to be working out well for her though. After all, she doesn't need many people to understand her.

There was a sigh at the other end. "Fine, but make sure no one catches you."

"Got it." she hung up the phone.

"Who was that?" said Tezuka.

Alluka smiled, and shrugged. She looked down the tennis courts, and pointed to it, and shaking her head.

"You won't be coming today?" Alluka nodded. "Why not?"

She pointed to herself, and shook her head. "Not feeling well?" Alluka nodded. Just then, the bell rang. Alluka left the rooftop without even saying goodbye.

Tezuka watched her retreating figure. There's something strange about Echizen today.

But what?

**BP: Ok, this is bad, because well, I was watching Shugo Chara. Do review, though.**


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